BlackRock has taken a major step into Europe’s on-chain markets, launching tokenized share classes for parts of its Institutional Cash Series (ICS) money market funds that together sit on $311 billion in assets — its first on-chain fund access in Europe. What launched - Twelve new tokenized share classes across six ICS funds covering euro, British pound and U.S. dollar strategies, offered in both distributing and accumulating forms. - Tokens are minted on Ethereum through Kinexys, J.P. Morgan’s blockchain unit, which handles minting and burning and acts as the bridge between on-chain tokens and the traditional shareholder register. - Each token corresponds to a fund share, but the official shareholder register remains with the fund’s transfer agent. Smart contracts enable holdings to move between approved investor wallets, giving 24/7 peer-to-peer transferability and near real-time visibility, BlackRock says. Why it matters - The move represents a shift from pilot projects to production-grade tokenized fund access in Europe, layering blockchain efficiency on top of regulated fund structures. - BlackRock positions the tokenized share classes as tools for corporate treasury management, digital collateral, and bank and wealth distribution channels — use cases that benefit from faster settlement and better transparency. - Kinexys and BlackRock framed this as an evolution of market infrastructure: “Tokenization has moved from concept to execution,” said Kara Kennedy, global head of market development at Kinexys. Beccy Milchem, Global Head of Cash Distribution at BlackRock, called the launches “an important evolution in how investors access and manage cash.” Regulatory and client scope - The underlying funds are public debt constant NAV and low-volatility NAV money market funds regulated under Europe’s UCITS regime. - The tokenized share classes are marketed to professional and qualified clients — not retail — and are available in Bermuda, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the UK. - BlackRock’s Head of Digital Cash, Hannah Winter, emphasized the tokenized shares preserve the existing standards for capital preservation, liquidity and risk management. How this fits into BlackRock’s tokenization push - The ICS launch follows a separate BlackRock rollout a day earlier that recorded tokenized money market funds on Solana, Ethereum and Stripe’s Tempo — a product aimed at stablecoin reserve management with Securitize as transfer agent. - BlackRock has been building toward this since BUIDL, its tokenized fund launched on Ethereum in March 2024 with a $5 million minimum. BUIDL has since expanded to eight networks and now manages more than $2.6 billion. - BlackRock executives including CEO Larry Fink and COO Rob Goldstein have described tokenization as “the next major evolution in market infrastructure.” Outstanding questions - The new ICS share classes sit against $311 billion in existing assets, but BlackRock has not disclosed how much of those assets it expects to migrate on-chain. Bottom line This launch marks another institutional endorsement of tokenized fund infrastructure — combining regulated UCITS vehicles with blockchain-native settlement and transferability — and highlights growing collaboration between asset managers and banks’ blockchain platforms as tokenization moves from experiments into scalable products.
BlackRock Launches $311B Tokenized Money Market Funds on Ethereum in Europe
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Summary
BlackRock has launched tokenized share classes for parts of its Institutional Cash Series money market funds, holding $311 billion in assets. The tokens are minted on Ethereum via Kinexys, J.P. Morgan’s blockchain unit, and available in euro, pound, and U.S. dollar strategies. This on-chain news marks BlackRock’s first European on-chain fund access, targeting corporate treasuries, digital collateral, and wealth distribution. The tokenized classes are open to professional and qualified clients in 13 jurisdictions, including Germany and the UK. Since March 2024, BlackRock has expanded tokenization efforts, with its BUIDL fund now managing over $2.6 billion across eight networks.
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